220. Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan; movie review

 

KISI KA BHAI KISI KI JAAN

Cert 15

144 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence

A quiet hero with super-strength who falls in love with a much younger woman, beats up villains by the score, supports those in need and shows fierce loyalty to his inner circle.

Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan follows the Salman Khan template to the letter.

Its only deviation is the ludicrous wig the Bollywood superstar wears for most of the film.

In a recent interview, Khan said that he still felt like a teenager. That's great but when will he give up playing age-inappropriate roles because he must know he surely doesn't look like one?

Or is his acting range so limited that he has to stick to repeat versions of the same character over and over?

In Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, he literally recreates one - because this is a remake of the Tamil movie Veeram.

Interestingly, when I reviewed that movie back in 2014, I commented on the jarring age gap between its star, Ajith Kumar and the rest of the cast.

In Farhad Samji's new movie, that issue is exacerbated because it is littered with old men portraying characters much younger than their own age.

Bollywood leans on these old male stars (in this case, Khan, Venkatesh and Jagapathi Babu) but complements them with a seemingly non-stop conveyor belt of much younger, attractive female talent.

The almost omnipresent Pooja Hegde must be getting in as many movie appearances as possible in the knowledge that, as soon as her hair turns grey, she will be dropped.

Anyway, Khan plays Bhaijaan, a local hero who has brought up his three "brothers" after their orphanage burned down.

The lads are all keen to be married but won't go ahead with their nuptials until he has found the love of his life.

Thus, they try to set him up with a lovely but fesity potential bride (Hegde).

Meanwhile, her family and Bhaijaan have some strife with crime gangs that needs to be sorted out. Of course, we jolly well know who is going to do it - almost single-handedly.

Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan is a strange mix of gentle romantic comedy and quite tough violence with Khan's character shy and reserved on one hand and capable of beating 20 men to death simultaneously on the other.

Sure there are some colourful dance scenes in which Khan proves he can still shake a leg but, by and large, it fails because we have seen it all before.

It is high time that Salman Khan proves he can do more than pull two faces (sheepish and mock aggressive) and actually act and maybe play roles that are written for a 57-year-old.

Reasons to watch: If you are an avid Salman Khan fan

Reasons to avoid: Seen it all before

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 3.5/10

Did you know?  Salman Khan is in talks with director David Leitch for an upcoming Hollywood action-thriller scheduled for release in 2024.

The final word. Jagapathi Babu said, “With Salman, everything is very simple. “He makes it so simple. He guides you. You don't feel intimidated by him at all because he doesn’t make you feel that way. In fact, we were supposed to have a fight (scene) but due to covid and dengue, we couldn’t. Bad luck." Hindustan Times

Share this post